Paradise Falls
History No one really knows when Paradise Falls became a den of slavers, but as far back as anyone in the Capital Wastes can remember, the area has been a hot-bed of slaver activity. The slavers themselves obviously don’t keep detailed records of any historical sort, aside from some business transaction ledgers that a few of the smarter slavers maintain, and as far as they know Paradise Falls has always been slaver territory. In truth, Paradise Falls began as a slave-trading hub not long after the Great War itself. Thirty years after the atomic fires rained down in 2077, a group of raiders took over the abandoned shopping mall and transformed it into their base of operations. While they began with the same tactics they had been used to: namely raiding nearby settlements and wastelanders, they soon found that they could have a much more lucrative business if they kept their raid victims alive and sold them to more malicious minded individuals seeking human slaves for various reasons. Over the years, the slavers of Paradise Falls continued to inhabit the shopping mall, and went through generations of leaders and slavers. Largely, they owed their continued existence to the completely lawless state of the Capital Wasteland region, and the lack of any sort of arising organized nation which grew up like in the West. In addition, the walled in compound and surprisingly defensible position at Paradise meant that if any settlement or town did work up the nerve to attempt to rid themselves of the slavers, they never made it much farther than the main gate. When the Brotherhood arrived recently in the Capital Wasteland, the slavers were far enough away from the D.C. area proper that they were never bothered by them. Although the Brotherhood was well aware of their existence, the super-mutants simply posed a far greater threat. Rarely however, they’ve encountered Brotherhood patrols, and even engaged one in open combat at one point. While they managed to kill or capture the entire patrol, they lost enough slavers in the process that it was deemed best if they steered clear of any future contact if it could be avoided. Recently, there have been a string of leaders of Paradise Falls of note. Some of which people in the Capital Wastes might still remember. Penelope Chase, the infamous “Black Widow of Paradise Falls” was the earliest leader in recent memory, and she was followed by the crazed cannibal Harmon Juley, who was known to kill and eat any slaves he couldn’t sell. Juley was followed by Eulogy Jones, who was known for wearing a pre-war zoot-suit and for his two dress wearing female bodyguards: Crimson and Clover. When Eulogy Jones was killed in his sleep in a jealous rage by his bodyguard Crimson after he told her his plans to sell her to a potential buyer, a new leader of Paradise stepped forward to take the reins of the slavers. Known as “The Crow” due to the black pre-war business suit he wears, he’s considered a far more dangerous and ambitious leader than Eulogy was: and commands the slavers of Paradise with their complete obedience. While Eulogy occasionally allowed back-talk, “the Crow” has been known to put disobedient slaves and slavers alike into cages and hang them to die atop the roofs of the shopping center. To his slavers, he goes by the name “Crowley,” or “Mr. Crowley” however its unknown if that is his real name or simply a name he chose for himself. With the recent events in the Capital Wasteland, and the growing strength of the Brotherhood, Crowley is well aware of the threats to the slave trade in the region, and he means to ensure his trade’s future protection. As far as he’s concerned, he will not go down in history as the last leader of the Paradise Falls slavers. The Slaving Stronghold of Columbia The stronghold of the slavers is Paradise Falls Shopping Center in the North East section of the Capital Wasteland. Paradise Falls is a decent sized pre-war shopping mall which has been fortified by the slavers into a well-protected compound containing large slave pens, barracks for the slavers, a bar owned by one of the slavers, and other assorted buildings used by the group: including a clinic run by the doctor "Cutter" and a weapons-shop owned by Pronto. Economy As would be expected, Paradise Falls is primarily based on the capturing and selling of slaves to various buyers. Currently the Pitt is one of their largest customers, but they are known to sell to any and all willing buyers and various groups and individuals from both inside and outside the Capital Wasteland region visit Paradise Falls in order to “browse” the merchandise. Slave Price Listing: -300-400 caps for weaker/older/child slaves. -500-700 caps for an average healthy wastelander -800-900 caps for a "hearty" wastelander or a lower-end bed slave. -1000-1500 caps for a well-trained slave (bed-slaves, slave guards) -2000 caps for a "specialty" slave. Culture The culture of Paradise Falls is really only a step up from the various raiders of the Capital Wasteland in terms of the civility they display. In that the slavers are generally well-behaved enough in order to treat potential buyers with respect, and in understanding that unnecessary cruelty to the slaves ruins the product. Aside from that, the slavers are on average cruel and sadistic and have been known to enact terrible punishments on disobedient or would-be escapees. The slavers are known to be friendly with one another, but that camaraderie only extends so far. Very few would be willing to put their lives on the line for another slaver unless there was damn good caps involved in it: or they were risking the displeasure of the leader of Paradise Falls. Organization Paradise Falls lacks what one might consider a true government of any sort. They are after all essentially just a group of raiders who specializing in one particular type of raiding. However, they do have a command structure not unlike a Mafia or gang organization. Whoever leads the Paradise Falls slavers is the one in complete control of the group, and he or she delegates command to various underbosses (men like Forty) who oversee day to day "administration" of Paradise Falls and who conduct sales with potential buyers. Under them are crew leaders, and each crew leader commands a small squad of slavers (10 to 15 usually) and leads it when “on the hunt” for new meat." Military Force The Paradise Falls slavers are decently well armed with a variety of small guns, larger weapons such as a few mini-guns, and even some energy weapons here and there. A lot of their armament comes from whatever they managed to pick off the slaves they capture, and they are known to buy weapons from caravans willing to deal with them. Typically hunting rifles and assault rifles (Chinese Assault rifles in particular) are the weapons of choice for the slavers however. Similarly, their armor varies from slaver to slaver as well. Some may have combat armor or leather armor, while others wear run of the mill merc outfits. As a “regular military” they aren’t exactly well trained or even particularly well disciplined, but they are experienced fighters, and certainly know how to shoot and kill. They have to in their line of work and most of them have killed their fair share. Normally they are organized into squads, and this is how they operate when sent out into the Capital Wasteland on slaving missions. As of yet, they haven’t had need of grouping the squads together to form a single “army” of slavers. Although if they would suddenly find the need to, it wouldn’t be out of the question for such a thing to occur. Aside from the slavers, Paradise Falls also has a good number of war-dogs which are used to hunt and capture slaves: and who are vicious canines which have been trained by their masters to kill. Usually one or two might accompany a slaver squad in the wastes, but otherwise they are penned up in Paradise Falls. Population Detail 180 total (roughly) with a normal average of 50 or so slaves in pens and 10-20 slave guards. Category:Factions